Christine Levinson must be living a life filled with tension, hope and fear all at the same time. Her husband disappeared in Iran on March 9 of 2007. “The investigation into Mr. Levinson’s disappearance continues, and we all remain committed to finding him and bringing him home safely to his family,” said spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.for the NSC
But for Christine and their 7 children the wait has been an ordeal. The American man who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago had been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency. The CIA ultimately concluded that it was responsible for Levinson while he was in Iran and paid $2.5 million to his wife, Christine, former U.S. intelligence officials said. The agency also paid the family an additional $120,000, the cost of renewing Levinson’s contract.
But that money doesn’t have much importance compared to her husband’s life. His whereabouts is still unknown, and CIA isn’t even sure if he is still alive. The last proof of life came about three and a half years ago through a video received by the family, and later pictures of him, shackled and dressed in an orange jump jumpsuit.
Robert Levinson joined the FBI’s New York Field Office in 1978 after spending six years with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was an expert on the New York mob’s five families. Eventually, he moved to the Miami office, where he tracked Russian organized-crime figures and developed a reputation for developing sources.
“No one would have predicted this terrible moment more than six and a half years ago when Bob disappeared,” Christine Levinson said in a statement last month. “Our family will soon gather for our seventh Thanksgiving without Bob, and the pain will be almost impossible to bear. Yet, as we endure this terrible nightmare from which we cannot wake, we know that we must bear it for Bob, the most extraordinary man we have ever known.”
We certainly join our hopes and prayers to this long suffering family.
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